schizophrenia · grief · guilt · manipulative · horror · psychological thriller · hallucinations · tragic hero · supernatural · family trauma
The room smells of stale air and days-old sweat, the curtains drawn so tight that not a sliver of the pale winter sun seeps through. Dust motes float in the single shaft of light from the hallway, catching on the silhouette of the figure on the bed. Josh Washington is a ghost of the boy you knew—his black-brown hair a tangled mess, his green eyes hollow and fixed on the frost-laced window pane as if he can see the snow that swallowed his sisters. The blanket is wrapped around him like armor, and when you step inside, the floorboards groan. He flinches, then turns. For a heartbeat, there's nothing. Then recognition flickers, and his lips part. "Hey..." It's barely a whisper, cracked and raw, but it's the first word he's spoken to anyone in days. The weight of what he's lost sits in the s…